Mr St Amand said the property attracted strong interest from international investors, drawing offers from Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong & Australia: “We were delighted that Wellington continues to be a destination of choice for offshore investors, but ultimately the strongest offer came from our own backyard.”

The 2-frontage 3658m² site has a 12-storey refurbished heritage building on Willis St and a new 11-storey office tower on Boulcott St, 3 levels of basement parking & an internal pedestrian link connecting the 2 streets.

It has floorplates ranging from 1336-2837m², a net lettable area of 28,000m² and a 5-star green star rating. Tenants include Spark, media group Stuff, insurer AMP and the Bank of NZ.

Mr Cassels said the strong interest & sale pointed to renewed optimism in investing in the capital, and Mr St Amand agreed: “Investors look for quality assets with strong investment fundamentals. What we are seeing now is that the things that traditionally made investors nervous about Wellington – the weather, the distance & the possibility of the occasional earthquake – aren’t the city’s defining features anymore.

“Spark Central is one of the largest & highest quality office assets in the Wellington cbd and is home to notable tenants including Stuff, Spark, BNZ & AMP – all of which is a testament to the way in which future-focused development can make an attractive proposition.”

Colliers & CBRE declared last Thursday the hotel sale was the biggest in New Zealand since 2015 and biggest in Auckland since 2006 – without saying anything about the price of this transaction.

The 178-unit strata title development was sold subject to a new 11-year performance lease underpinned by Japanese serviced apartment conglomerate Daiwa House Group, which acquired the Australia & New Zealand Waldorf serviced apartment business in 2017 and has plans to expand in the region.

Mulpha chief executive Greg Shaw said: “We were attracted to its position in a key gateway city, strategic location in the heart of the Auckland cbd, together with several strategic opportunities to add additional value to this asset over the short to medium term, working in conjunction with the hotel operator Daiwa House Group.”

The hotel has a mix of studio, one-, 2- & 3-bedroom self-contained apartments. It has a long-term ground lease to the Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board.

Helius Therapeutics Ltd has secured an 8800m² property in East Tamaki for its first facility to cultivate, extract, research & manufacture medicinal cannabis.

The lease on 21 Ron Driver Place comes ahead of expected regulatory changes which would legalise the use of medicinal cannabis by mid-2020.

Helius co-founder JP Schmidt said yesterday the deal was an important step forward for the company: “We’re delighted to have secured this facility, which will set the standard for medicinal cannabis production in New Zealand. We’re operating in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and this property underscores our commitment to leading this market in New Zealand.”

The site has 6500m² of warehouse to be used for cultivation and about 2000m² of office & laboratories. The agreement also allows for expansion into the 6500m² of an adjacent tenancy.

This will give Helius about 20,000m² of cultivation space, capable of growing 140,000 plants and producing 50 tonnes of cannabis material/year.

CBRE industrial & logistics national director Claus Brewer said the process pointed to a new use for large footprint industrial properties: “We’re already seeing in places like Colorado & California the impact legal cannabis manufacturing plants have had on the industrial property market. Whether it’s plant-based meat or more generic growing or processing facilities, the repurposing of industrial stock with low stud height or excess office space to indoor horticulture space could be the future of farming in urban environments, providing further opportunities for savvy landlords.”

CBRE East Tamaki agent Lewis Watson said the Helius deal was an example of repositioning that could benefit a number of older industrial properties: “The change of use allows investors to achieve rental returns comparable to newer builds, and the occupier to be able to achieve greater economic benefits from an older style facility.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade is the biggest tenant of the HSBC Tower, at 195 Lambton Quay, occupying levels 10-24, being the bulk of the building. Other office tenants include HSBC & law firm Simpson Grierson.

Credit Suisse also owns the Justice Centre on Aitken St, and Mr St Amand said the bank had been looking for another high quality asset in New Zealand: “The fact they have invested in Wellington again demonstrates confidence in the stability & long-term outlook for the Wellington office market, as well as recognising Wellington as an attractive city for their long-term investment focus.”

The last site left in the Oruarangi Rd development block near Auckland Airport was sold at CBRE’s auction yesterday at 545/m².

South

Mangere

586 Oruarangi Rd:Features: 9999m² industrial lot near Auckland Airport, dual access to Te Tiki Rd, last site left in the Oruarangi Rd development block, surrounded by new developmentsOutcome: sold for $5.45 million + gstAgents: Paul Steele & Claus Brewer

2 Auckland warehouses were sold yesterday at CBRE’s first multi-property auction in 7 years (discounting a joint promotion with Bayleys in 2015), but 3 retail units in the new Ramada Remarkables hotel in Queenstown struggled to muster 2 bids (other than vendor indicators) between them.

Agencies sometimes take “out of town” properties to auction in the country’s biggest investor market, Auckland, and often enough find the big-city investors don’t materialise, as happened in this case.

Developer Rob Neil of Safari Group (NZ) Ltd, who has specialised in development of Quest hotels and, more recently, Ramada hotels, built the 59-suite Ramada Remarkables at Remarkables Park, including the 3 retail outlets which were taken to auction.

Total rent from 5 new tenancies is $300,900/year.

Agents for all 3 retail units were Richard Larman & Ellie Martin.

24 Hawthorne Drive, unit 2:Features: 2 tenancies of 58m² & 88m², a rental car office & a gym, 2 parking spacesRent: $83,400/year net from 6-year leases, each with 2 3-year rights of renewalOutcome: passed in after a starting bid at $500,000 and closing with vendor bids of $1.05 million & $1.4 million, the last indicator representing a yield of 5.96%

Deborah Dowling (pictured), who managed Colliers’ new West Auckland office based in the NorthWest Shopping Centre when it was split last year from the North Shore office, has moved to CBRE as its managing director for both territories.

She has a team of 8 agents working from CBRE’s city office until their new premises in the NorthWest centre are ready in late August.

CBRE’s senior managing director for New Zealand, Brent McGregor, said today: “Being able to establish a physical presence out west provides clear advantage to our clients. Deborah’s team has about 40 years’ experience in the western & North Shore suburbs. With dedicated specialists for each area, CBRE’s clients in these locations are in very capable hands.”

Mr McGregor said the new office would open at a time of important change in Auckland’s infrastructure development: “The newly opened Waterview Connection provides significant commercial property opportunities in the western suburbs due to the enhanced freight logistics it provides.”

He said the team had experience across industrial, retail, commercial, development land & lifestyle blocks.

“Deborah & her team are well known for their success running auction campaigns for their clients, and will continue to do so in the new CBRE office. The West Auckland office will be set up with full auction facilities, allowing CBRE to run regular auctions from both West Auckland & the Auckland cbd.”

Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd has sold 6 Fonterra Farm Source stores around the North Island through a joint auction programme between Bayleys & CBRE head of agri-business Jeremy Keating.

Bayleys conducted the auctions in New Plymouth last Wednesday and in Hamilton & Rotorua on Thursday.

All sold with 8-year leasebacks to Fonterra subsidiary RD1 Ltd from settlement on 23 July 23, with 2-yearly cumulative CPI adjustments and reviewed to market on renewal & 2-yearly thereafter. Fonterra also has 4 3-year rights of renewal.

59-65 Orchard West Rd:Features: 4555m² site on State Highway 2, 596m² store [corrected; originally written as 2596m²], 119m² of canopies; purchaser will be required to outlay additional capital up to a maximum of $600,000 over the next 2 years for premises expansion, with a commensurate increase in rentalRent: $124,750/year net + gstOutcome: sold for $1.95 million at a 6.4% yieldAgents: Josh Smith & Jeremy Keating

A Melbourne apartment development site has been sold to the Asian Pacific Group (Will Deague) for $A35 million at $A9117/m², and 3 adjoining buildings have been sold for $A38.8 million.

The 3839m² site at 83-113 Batman St, West Melbourne, has a permit for 522 apartments in 2 27-level towers, including 33 2-storey lofts, plus retail, designed by Bruce Henderson.

The whole site, known as the Spencer portfolio, contained the historic Sands & McDougall buildings and a warehouse at 355 & 371 Spencer St & 102 Jeffcott St.

Hume Partners (Peter Scanlon) took the development site & 3 buildings to the market through separate CBRE campaigns.

Bennelong Group (Jeff Chapman) had earlier proposed 2 towers of 39 & 29 storeys above a 5-level podium for the whole site, with a gross floor area of 85,000m² and originally containing 749 apartments.

The 1770m² Jeffcott St warehouse & office, on a 920m² site, sold for $A6.1 million.

The CBRE team also said yesterday it had sold 206 Bourke St, on the edge of Bourke St Mall, for $A116.28 million at a 5.75% yield, on behalf of Hiap Hoe Ltd and that it had been bought by unlisted fund manager ISPT, which has $A11 billion of properties under management.

206 Bourke St has a net lettable area of 11,922m² – 9582m² retail, 2340m² office – and an approved planning permit to build a 142-room hotel above the fourth level of the existing development.

Westfield sells 6 US malls

Westfield Corp, owner of the US & UK malls of the former Westfield Group, sold 5 of the US malls this week for $US1.1 billion. It sold another in November to Rouse Properties Inc for $US170 million. The Australia-NZ Westfield portfolio is owned by Scentre Ltd, some now in partnership with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.

The US assets sold are in Connecticut, Washington, and 2 each in California & Illinois, reducing Westfield’s US portfolio to 32 malls. It also has 2 in the UK and has entered a partnership with Gruppo Stilo to develop a centre in Milan, Italy.

Westfield Corp co-chief executives Peter & Steven Lowy said in August: “Our strategy is to create & operate flagship assets in leading markets that deliver great experiences for retailers & consumers. We are focused on innovation and are creating a digital platform to converge with our physical portfolio, in order to connect retailers & consumers both physically & digitally.

“Our capital investment is almost entirely weighted towards our flagship assets, with estimated development yields in the range of 7-8%. Upon completion of these projects, we expect Westfield Corp’s flagship assets will represent 85-90% of the total portfolio and our business will be more evenly weighted between the US & UK/Europe.”

When they announced the northern hemisphere company’s results in August, the Lowy brothers said: “The performance of Westfield’s pre-eminent portfolio remains strong. The benefits of our restructure last year can be seen in the significant progress being made on our $US11.4 billion development programme. This year we expect to commence $US2.5 billion of projects, having already commenced $US1.6 billion of redevelopments to date in 2015.”

John Bedford & Warren Hutt of CBRE, who marketed the property, said yesterday the sale had gone unconditional, with settlement due on 1 October.

Mr Magnusson & Mr Orr are also directors & shareholders of Opoutere Beach Ltd, which bought the Opoutere campground, further down the Coromandel east coast between Pauanui & Onemana.

Mr Magnusson said yesterday: “We have been involved in Opoutere for 10 years and wanted to invest in another holiday location. When the Hahei Holiday Resort came up for sale we thought, ‘Let’s have a crack at it’. Hahei beach is spectacular and its proximity to surrounding attractions of Cathedral Cove & Hot Water Beach is excellent. It is difficult not to be impressed by the place.

“Our vision for Hahei is for it to continue to be run as a great Kiwi family holiday resort. We want people to enjoy the camping they have loved here for years, and to encourage people to see that there’s more to the resort than camping: there are villas, studios & apartments here too, so you don’t have to be in a tent to enjoy Hahei. And we are hopeful that the staff will come along with us on the journey.

“Most importantly, we want to ensure that customers know that all bookings made to date will be honoured, and that we are open for business as usual: in fact, I would encourage anyone looking to book to do so quickly, to make sure they don’t miss out.”

Mr Magnusson said the group acknowledged Thames Coromandel district mayor Glenn Leach & council staff, “who gave us a lot of confidence due to the plans they have in play for the Hahei area and the supportive reception we received for maintaining a sustainable resort operation”.

Spokesperson for the previous owners, Ian Carter, said it was great news for the Carter-Harsant family that the resort, which had operated as a successful family-owned holiday & tourist business for more than 50 years, would keep operating.

John Bedford, of CBRE, said nearly 100 serious parties had expressed interest in the property.

About Bob Dey Property

The Bob Dey Property website is primarily about commercial & development property in Auckland, policies & strategies that impact on the sector, listed property securities and wider economic influences. It examines infrastructure, access & urban design issues, and presents ideas from around the world. The emphasis is on appropriate depth & context.